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Alliant Energy and North Iowa Area Community College are pleased to sponsor The Drowsy Chaperone, a completely original musical comedy that has been dubbed the most celebrated musical of the 2006 Broadway season.  The Drowsy Chaperone will take the stage at the North Iowa Community Auditorium on Sunday, April 5, at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are on sale now and cost $39.00 in advance or $45 at the door.

If you've ever sat in a darkened theatre and thought, "Dear Lord in Heaven, please let it be good," this is the show for you.  It all begins when a die-hard theater fan plays his favorite cast album on his turntable, and the musical literally bursts to life in his living room, telling the rambunctious tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find, and keep, her true love. The Drowsy Chaperone, based on a book by Tony Award® winners Bob Martin and Don McKellar, is directed and choreographed by Tony Award® nominee Casey Nicholaw (Spamalot) with music and lyrics by Tony Award® winners Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison.

“The show-within-a-vaudeville show, which shifts from present time back to the year 1928, is pure escapism — like one big dance party with a few gangsters thrown in for dramatic purposes, and an ensemble cast who look and act as if they are having the time of their lives,” wrote Marcia Morphy, for the Rochester, NY, Democrat and Chronicle.

The Drowsy Chaperone tells the story of a modern day musical theater addict known simply as “Man in Chair”.  To chase his blues away he drops the needle on his favorite LP – the 1928 musical comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone.  From the crackle of his hi-fi, the musical magically bursts to life on stage telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, the debonair groom, the dizzy chorine, the Latin lover and a pair of gangsters who double as pastry chefs.  Man in Chair’s love of the The Drowsy Chaperone speaks to anyone who has ever been transported by the theater.

“When done right, musical theater should make you forget your troubles for a few hours while magically transporting you to a candy-colored fantasyland where everyone happily breaks into chirpy songs when they're feeling blue.  The Drowsy Chaperone, a rousing and side-splittingly funny homage to those lavish musicals of the 1920s, does just that. If you're looking to escape life's daily grind with a fun night on the town, you could do a lot worse than spending 90 minutes with Drowsy's array of wonderfully colorful characters.” wrote Kevin D. Thompson, staff writer for the Palm Beach Post. 

A totally original new musical within a comedy, The Drowsy Chaperone has "more laughs per minute than any new show on Broadway" (WWCR-TV), the most 2006 Tony Awards® of any musical on Broadway, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle and Drama Desk awards for Best Musical!  A rare combination of unprecedented originality and blinding talent, The Drowsy Chaperone boldly addresses a great unspoken desire in all our hearts: to be entertained.  

For tickets to the performance of The Drowsy Chaperone, call the NIACC Box Office at 1-888-466-4222, ext. 4188.  Tickets may also be purchased online at www.niacc.edu.  Platinum sponsors for the 2008-2009 series include NIACC, Globe Gazette Elizabeth Muse Norris Charitable Fund; the Globe Gazette; Alliant Energy; Community National Bank; Henkel Construction; and Principal Financial Group.  Gold sponsors include Diamond Jo Casino; First Citizens National Bank; First State Bank of Belmond; Kraft; Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa; Martin, Cooney, MacNider & Cooney, Financial Consultants of Raymond James and Associates, Inc.; Dr. Gary W. Swenson and Dean A. Genth; and Sukup Manufacturing.  In kind sponsors include Country Inn and Suites; KIMT; and Pepsi.

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